A Chicago police officer fatally shot an unarmed, mentally disturbed man in front of his mother after she summoned officers to her Humboldt Park home last year for help because her son had stopped taking his medication, according to a wrongful-death lawsuit filed in federal court.

Police have said an officer shot 33-year-old James Anderson on the evening of Sept. 25 after he lunged at officers with a "knifelike" object in his hand. Before the shooting, other officers had tried to subdue Anderson with a Taser, but he continued to advance in a threatening manner, police said at the time.

But in a lawsuit filed Friday, Anderson's mother, Pamela, said her son was unarmed and had made no threatening moves before he was shot seven times.

According to the suit, Pamela Anderson called police to her home in the 900 block of North Central Park Avenue because her son had stopped taking his medication for a "mild mental illness" and she wanted them to escort him to a hospital, as police had done in the past. She explained that her son was unarmed and not violent, and when officers arrived she was waiting on the porch to let them know he was in his first-floor bedroom listening to music, the suit alleges.

Still, the lawsuit alleges, one officer drew his gun, walked to the bedroom and knocked on the door twice. The officer then positioned himself in a shooting position against the rear door of the kitchen, according to the suit.

When Anderson emerged from his bedroom, he was "suddenly and without warning" shot seven times in front of his mother, the suit says.

Anderson was pronounced dead a short time later at Mount Sinai Hospital.

After the shooting, Pamela Anderson told a WBBM-Ch. 2 news reporter that her "whole kitchen was lit up from (the officer) shooting."

"I had to run to my room for cover to keep them from shooting me," she said.

The account given in the suit differs sharply from statements given by police immediately after the shooting. At the time, police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said officers had responded to a domestic disturbance at the residence. They encountered a group of adults and saw a man in the group holding a "knifelike object" in his hand who refused orders to drop the weapon, he said.

An officer twice tried to use a Taser on the man, but the device's prongs didn't reach him, he said. The officers again ordered the man to drop the object. When he did not, one of the officers shot him at least once , Guglielmi said

Guglielmi said a "box cutter-like" object was found at the scene.

Chicago police said in a statement Wednesday that the "use of force" in the case remains under investigation by the Independent Police Review Authority, which probes all police shootings.

"Individuals will be held accountable should the investigation reveal any violation of departmental policies or procedures," the statement said.

In addition to excessive force, the lawsuit alleges that the Chicago Police Department operates under a code of silence that routinely covers up the misconduct of officers and allows them to act without fear of discipline.

A version of this article appeared in print on January 28, 2016, in the News section of the Chicago Tribune with the headline "Lawsuit filed in '15 police shooting - Family claims man was unarmed and mentally disturbed" —
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